Thursday, 19 January 2017

Here is Sarah. Sarah was the most straight-forward of all my Farmer's Wife tutorial blocks to sew - there is a not a y-seam in sight!

You can sew Sarah without foundation paper piecing or templates - I rotary cut all the pieces, and worked out the quilt-maths to make the HSTs and flying geese star points all by myself! - which is a pretty massive achievement, as quilt-maths and I are not friends. As you know, I cannot share the measurements here as it would breach the author's copyright - but if you can figure out the size of the corner squares, knowing that the unfinished block is 6 1/2" square, you'll be off and running.

If you would like a little quilt-maths help for the HSTs and flying geese (they provide a MUCH better explanation than any I could share here):For HSTs - click through to Alyce's very helpful tutorial.For flying geese - click through to this Quilter's Cache tutorial. Of the three different methods shown, I like their 'Speed Piecing Method A' the most.

So let's get started
As mentioned, there are three basic units needed to make Sarah:
1. Corner squares.
2. Half square triangles.
3. Flying geese (star points).

In keeping with Sarah in the book, I chose only three fabrics. You will need:

Make your HST and flying geese units
Once you have cut all your fabrics, you will need to rule a diagonal line - I always just use a sharp pencil - on the back of all eight of your flying geese star point squares; and on the back of your two low volume HST squares.

To create your HST units, place your low volume + print squares RST, then sew 1/4" either side of your drawn line (refer to the pic below - you may need your glasses or to zoom in, as yes, I realise now it would have helped significantly if I had thought to use a higher-contrast thread for these tutorial photos).

To create your flying geese units, place one star point square on one flying geese base, with the diagonal drawn line running from a top corner to the bottom middle, as pictured below. Sew directly on the drawn line.

Once you have sewn all your HST + flying geese lines:
- for the HST units, trim directly ON the drawn pencil line. You will have four HST units. Iron the seam open. Trim each HST unit to the same size as your four corner squares (the navy lions in my block).
- for the flying geese units, trim 1/4" from your sewn line, being sure that you are trimming off the small outer triangles and not the flying goose base (in the pic below, you would place your 1/4" ruler line directly on the sewn line, with the outer edge of the ruler running 1/4" from the sewn line down to the right underneath). Iron your seams open.

Place your remaining four star point squares on the other end of your flying geese units, with the drawn line running from the top corner to the bottom middle, as shown in the pic below. Again sew directly on the drawn line. Trim 1/4" from the sewn line, being sure to trim off only the small outer triangles. Iron your seams open.

Block layout + sewing it together
Lay out all the units of your block as they will appear in the finished block, taking particular care with any directional prints, and ensuring that the fabrics in your central HST pinwheel are correctly oriented.

Sew the HST pinwheel together - join the top squares + bottom squares - this is one of the few times I iron seams to either side, to make sure the seams nest nicely when sewing the pinwheel together.

Sew your corner squares to the top and bottom flying geese units - iron the seams to the corner squares.

You are done! Here's a pic of Sarah on point - which will work equally well as squared, unless you are sewing with directional fabrics like I have :-)

Good luck with your Sarah - she is a dream to sew.

The book you will need for the Farmer's Wife sew-along is The Farmer's Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 quilt blocks that honour them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W; RRP $28.99 - click here to purchase.

For all information about the Farmer's Wife sew-along, please click through to Angie's GnomeAngel blog - she has a separate tab for all the Farmer's Wife info, as well as a whole heap of info for her 2017 sew-alongs - it's definitely worth taking the time to make a cup of tea and have a good read through everything. And if you would like to sew Sarah using Marti's fabulous templates, please take a click through to Marti Michell's blog for all the info.

Thanks very much for joining me for all my Farmer's Wife tutorials - this is my last one! xoxo cat

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We are two good friends from Brisbane, Australia. We love to create gorgeous + fun designs - to bring a touch of happy to your home and to each of ours. Our email is catandvee(at)gmail(dot)com.
Thanks for stopping by to share our little online space, you are awesome for being here! xoxo